Alive
by Posessed-by-the-music
Summary: Sequel to DEAD. After finding herself back in the land of the living, Zoey faces one of her greatest fears.
1. Chapter One

Chapter One

Zoey and Stark weaved their way through the hedge maze on the way to the mansion to see the rest of her friends, she couldn't wait to see all their faces, even Aphrodite, but right now that would have to wait, first she had some questions for Stark.

"Stark I want to know everything that happened to me" it wasn't really a question.

"Well Heath confronted Kalona, or maybe it was the other way around… doesn't matter, anyway, there was a confrontation and Kalona snapped Heath's neck…"

Zoey cringed.

"Are you ok? I'm sorry"

"I'm fine, continue"

"And then you ran towards them harnessing the spirit energy and you threw it at Kalona and he flew over the side of the wall, we didn't see where he went, it all happened so fast"

Zoey chewed on this, then spoke,

"Heath said that he over-heard Kalona and Neferet planning my death, and Kalona found him"

"Wait, Heath _said_?"

"Oh yeah, when I died, or whatever, Heath was there, we were in the spirit world, or purgatory, and he told me this, oh and Loren was there too"

"Loren? As in Professor Blake?"

"Yes, he said that Neferet killed him because he interfered with her plan to bring me down, I guess he fell for me, literally"

"Oh, just like Heath interfered this time" he realised

"Why do people have to die for being on my side? It's not fair!"

"I know, because Neferet is an evil bitch"

"I can't believe _you_ just called someone an evil bitch!" she laughed at him teasing

"Shut up, its true" he punched Zoey in the arm

"Ow! That hurt warrior, I'm a delicate girl you know!" she laughed and ran away from him playfully.

"But not just an ordinary delicate girl, a Vampyre Fledgling High Priestess delicate girl" he added

"There is no such thing James Stark"

"There is now, I just invented it" he chased her through the maze until they ended up in the centre. On a pedestal was a marble statue of Nyx and on either side of the hedge circle were two marble love seats.

Zoey was in awe of her Goddess's beauty all over again, she walked over to one of the love seats and sat, Stark drew his eyes away from Nyx's figure and found Zoey, she too looked more beautiful than ever, and it was now that he noticed her new tattoos. He walked over and sat beside her, she smiled at him.

"It's so beautiful here"

"Yes, it is" he was not looking at their Goddess Nyx like Zoey was, he was looking at Zoey.

She picked up on his sudden emotional change and immediately felt what he was feeling, and gasped when she realised. He was falling in love with her, no he _was_ in love with her. _So much for my vow of Celibacy and women's independence and freedom,_ she thought, because Zoey couldn't help but feel what Stark was feeling, she was falling in love with him too.


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Zoey removed her gaze from Stark and rose from the marble love seat. She was in between a rock and a hard place again, she had promised herself she wouldn't develop feelings for anymore guys or have multiple boyfriends, but unfortunately it seemed like that was Zoey Redbird's fate.

She walked towards the marble statue of Nyx, her Goddess and sent up a silent prayer to the stars, _Please tell me what to do about this, should I fall for him?_

After a few minutes of star gazing she felt a warm, firm hand on her shoulder, Stark came to stand behind her, his other hand went to her hip. Zoey's stomach did a little flip and she leaned into him, she couldn't help but not fall in love with Stark, I mean, how often do you get to fall in love with a handsome strong Vampyre Warrior?

"Mmm" was all Zoey could utter at that moment.

"I know I promised not to do anything boyfriend-like…but I can feel what you feel remember, and you aren't objecting, in fact it feels familiar" he told her softly, he kissed her neck just below her earlobe and she moaned in satisfaction.

No, Zoey wasn't objecting to hers and Starks sudden realisation of feelings, she was enjoying it oh so much. She turned around to face him and took his hands in hers. She placed his hands on either side of her face and kissed him deeply.

Almost immediately an overwhelming sensation came over Zoey and Stark. She felt Spirit return to her along with the other four elements, Earth, Fire, Water and Air. The Elements swirled around Stark and Zoey and rushed through them causing Zoey to cry out and fall to the ground, Stark went down with her.

"Zoey!" he wrapped his arms around her protecting her from the hard ground, not that it was far to fall, but he wasn't sure what was happening.

Zoey lay in Stark's arms on the cold ground, Stark lay next to her. He pulled her in close to his body and hugged her. Zoey then felt a stinging sensation on her skin.

"Oh!"

"Zoey, what's wrong, what's going on? Are you ok?"

"Yes I think… " she looked down her top to see if there was a new tattoo on her chest, nothing. The feeling radiated down to her legs. She ripped off her black singlet top, took off her black boots and black leggings until she was just in her lacy black Victoria's Secret underwear.

"Zoey what are you doing?" Stark couldn't help but stare at her almost naked skin as she undressed, and together they found the new fledgling markings.

The new vampire markings joined the blue and red markings on her stomach and spiralled down to her hips, around her pelvis and down her thighs. Stark traced the lines down her thighs, which tickled. She looked up at him and jumped on him, pushing him back against the stony ground and kissing him passionately.

Zoey undressed Stark, taking off his coat and then his button-down shirt. She took his bow and arrow out of its holder on his back and put it aside, but not too far away, so he could reach it if they became threatened, but the chance of that was rare in the middle of a maze. They kissed each other with white hot passion and fire as Zoey reached down to Stark's waist and unbuttoned his jeans. Suddenly his hand was on hers stopping her from going any further.

"What's wrong?" she asked him

"Do you really want to do this here?"

"Don't speak" she told him breathlessly, kissing him again. Stark pulled back.

"Zoey wait"

"What? Don't you want this?"

"No, I do, it's just… this doesn't seem like you"

"Stark…"

"what?"

"You are ruining the moment" she told him and kissed him again to silence him.

Stark finally gave in to everything that he had been feeling and he and Zoey made love there next to the statue of the Goddess.


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Zoey and Stark lay amongst their scattered clothes on the stony ground in the middle of the maze. They were naked and laying in each others arms and still breathing heavily after their passionate union.

"I think we should go inside, they're probably looking for me…they don't even know that you're alive!" stated Stark

"Yeah" Zoey replied breathlessly, kissing his bare chest.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" she told him, smiling and lifting her head from his chest for a moment to look at him.

"Well, good, because I don't want things to be awkward" Stark sat up and looked around for his clothes, he grabbed his boxers and passed Zoey her underwear as well.

As they were getting dressed they heard a voice call out Stark's name, then another.

"Sounds like Aphrodite and Darius, I told them to come and look for me if I didn't return for a certain length of time"

"That's our cue then" Zoey told him. They both rushed their dressing and ran out of the maze together.

"Do you know the way?" Zoey asked Stark as they ran, holding each others hands so as to not become separated.

"Yeah its not far" he told her. They rounded a corner and Aphrodite's and Darius' voices became clearer.

"Over here, I'm coming, I've got Zoey" Stark called in reply

"Zoey? Zoey's alive?!" Aphrodite exclaimed.

A minute later Stark and Zoey appeared from the exit of the maze, at which Aphrodite and Darius were waiting. Aphrodite ran immediately into Zoey's arms, shocking her and making her step backwards.

"Whoa Aphrodite, I'm glad to see you too" she told her sarcastically. Aphrodite immediately stepped back, flicking her hair and fixing it with her fingers.

"Well its not my fault we all thought you were gone" she whined

"It's ok" she told her, "I did what I had to do… speaking of, do you know if Kalona is gone for good?"

"He hasn't shown his face since then, and Neferet has disappeared too" Darius told her.

"That's good" replied Zoey, with a sigh of relief. Then she noticed Aphrodite's expression. She was looking them up and down, observing Stark and Zoey's every move for even the slightest hint that something had happened between them.

"What's up Aphrodite?" Zoey asked her

"Nothing's up with me, but _something's_ up with you"

"What do you mean Aphrodite?"

"Don't play dumb with me Zoey, I can tell when two people have imprinted, having been imprinted myself"

"Imprinted?" she asked innocently and in a higher pitch than expected, Zoey played with her hair nervously.


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

"Yes, Imprinted" she stated.

Zoey froze, how on earth did she know?

"And h… how do you know that we've imprinted, we don't look different do we?"

"No dimwit, for one, your top is on inside out now and it wasn't earlier, and you two cannot keep your hands off of each other"

Zoey panicked and looked down at her top and checked where the label was located, sure enough, her top _was_ on in-side-out. She quickly took it off and fixed it, she didn't really care who saw her in her underwear, Stark had already seen more than that, Aphrodite was a girl and had probably changed with other girls before, and she knew Darius wasn't a pervert, he only checked out Aphrodite.

Secondly, she didn't realise she and Stark had been holding hands still, she quickly let go. Aphrodite snorted and spun on her heel.

"Zoey why can't you just admit you're with anyone, you really can't deny it any longer, just admit it Zoey, you're totally in love with Arrow boy here" she told her, pointing a thumb at Stark.

Zoey felt the blood run straight to her cheeks, which probably made them go bright red, she put her hands up to her cheeks. Then she felt Starks hand on her waist, she automatically leaned into him like a reflex.

"If you want to admit all right here and now, I want to say first that I am totally fine with this, he's the first guy who hasn't been all possessive" babbled Aphrodite

"Thanks Aphrodite, I think. I don't know if I'm officially with Stark yet, I still have to sort my head out and figure out what just happened over in the maze…" her words faded off as she glanced over at Stark.

"I'm ok with whatever you want to do about this and I'm here to talk when you're ready" he told her.

"Thank you" she replied, her words came out as a whisper as she reached up on her tippy toes and kissed him.

His lips were warm and sweet and gentle as he kissed her back, it felt familiar and she was totally comfortable as their kiss transported her to another world. It was only until she heard whistles and throat clearing from Aphrodite that she came back down to planet earth; her cheeks were all warm and red again.

"Sorry, I… should be getting inside, it's almost dinner time right?" she said nervously.

"Yes, but first do you mind explaining!" asked Aphrodite impatiently.

"Explaining? Explaining what Aphrodite?" Zoey's feet were still not completely planted firmly on the ground.

"The kissing and would you please tell me what exactly happened in the maze?" but before Zoey could answer, Aphrodite figured it out from Zoey's guilty expression

"Oh My Goddess!"

Again Zoey froze, she knew she couldn't hide anymore, her feelings for Stark had to come out in the open some day, and that day was now. There was no escaping Aphrodite, it seemed she had a sense for this type of thing.

_Just say it Zoey, get it off your chest_, she told herself

"Ok fine! Yes Stark and I are together!" Zoey exclaimed. She heard Aphrodite's sharp intake of air.

"I knew it! You two totally did it in the middle of the maze!"

"Aphrodite…" Zoey was embarrassed now.

"its totally ok, and I must say that's something even I wouldn't be game enough to do, well done Zoey!"

Then Darius' firm hand on her shoulder reigned her in,

"That's enough my beauty, you are embarrassing Zoey. We should all go inside and eat"

"fine, I'm just proud of her that's all" Aphrodite turned and started walking away, hand in hand with Darius. She glanced back over her shoulder and smiled and winked at Zoey. Zoey rolled her eyes, took Stark's hand and walked into the palace where the rest of her friends were waiting.


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Darius and Aphrodite led the way back into the palace, Zoey never got sick of the sight of the chandeliers and all the gold trimming, it was spectacular. Damien, Jack, Erin and Shaunee were seated at the dining room table. Aphrodite pulled Darius' arm to the other side of the room which put Zoey and Stark in full view of the others. They all dropped their forks simultaneously in surprise.

"Oh My Goddess!" exclaimed Damien. Jack flung his chair back and raced towards Zoey, leaping into her arms, which made Zoey laugh, she loved that boy.

"I missed you Zoey!"

"I missed you too Jack" she told him. She looked up at Erin and Shaunee; their jaws were literally on the ground.

"Hey twins" she said as she walked over to stand behind their chairs.

"This is too weird Twin" stated Erin

"Totally weird Twin" replied Shaunee.

"But good, we're so glad your back Zoey, how would we ever have cast a circle without you" Erin told Zoey

"Yeah it would be totally hard" added Shaunee

"You are right there twin" said Erin

Then they were interrupted by Jack who had walked up to stand beside Stark, and not far behind him trotted a big furry lady with a wet black nose, who nudged Starks hand.

"Hey there pretty girl" Stark ruffled her ears.

"She just wants you to know that she's happy for you and Zoey, and so am I, besides we kind of overheard Aphrodite"

"yeah because her voice is not exactly whisper-like" Erin chimed in

"Right there Twin" Shaunee added and raised her hand for a high five with Erin, who slapped it.

"But we are all happy for you, Stark is a good guy and he treats you right" quipped Damien

Zoey glared at Aphrodite. Great, now she would have to explain the situation to everyone and she didn't exactly want to at that very moment.

"Guys, i…" Zoey tried to tell them but her words just didn't come out, so Stark picked up her slack.

"Guys look, yes we will not deny that we are not together, we are, it's just that we don't want the whole world to know"

"And that includes Erik, who I know is going to be difficult when we get back, and I will handle him" Zoey added, she was grateful that Stark was at her side, she didn't know what she would do without him, he really was her hero.

"Well my lips are sealed" said Aphrodite out of nowhere, everyone glared at her.

"what?"

Zoey sighed, she wasn't going to try.

"Thanks guys" she said as she took her seat at the dining table with a bottle of brown pop.


	6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

After everyone had eaten, Zoey made her way up to her suite and lay on her bed, she was exhausted. A few minutes later there was a knock at her door and Stark stuck his head in.  
"Mind if I come in?" he asked politely with a charming smile, how could she resist that?

"Of course you can, you don't have to ask" she told him, she was waiting for him anyway.

Stark kicked off his shoes and lay down his bow and arrow and hopped in bed with Zoey. She automatically snuggled up to his warm body, this response was immediate, natural, like they were one entity. Stark kissed the top of her head and Zoey sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing, I think this is the first time I've been able to relax after everything that has happened"

"That's good, I like seeing you happy, and _feeling_ you happy" he added with another cheeky grin.

"Stop it!" she playfully hit him, "I told you not to feel my emotions! Switch it off ok"

"I've tried but its just too hard when they are as strong as right now" he told her, gazing into her eyes. Zoey knew exactly what he was talking about, she leaned forward and kissed him.

Their kisses were passionate and there was a yearning for more, they stripped each others clothes from their bodies. Stark's touch was ever so tender as he traced the lines that formed her fledgling marks once again, whilst Zoey lay on top of his chiselled chest. He traced down her naked back and over her butt, causing her to shiver. He rolled her over so that he was on top now and Zoey wrapped her legs around his waist. Stark put his hand on her thigh and the other cupping her left breast, causing Zoey to moan with pleasure. Then they made love with more passion and fire than the first time.

A while later, as they lay intertwined with each others naked bodies; they talked about all the recent events.

"Anyway I think Heath would have wanted this, in some way, when he wasn't being a jealous jerk"

"Yeah he would be proud of you" he told her as he kissed her forehead. Then Zoey thought about everyone back in Tulsa, at the House of Night, Professor Lenobia and Professor Dragon, and Persephone her gorgeous mare, and Erik, jealous Erik, and Stevie Rae, she couldn't wait to tell Stevie Rae everything.

And almost as if Stark had been able to read her mind, he answered the question she had been thinking about.

"We're leaving for the House of Night tomorrow after we visit the High Court again"

"The High Court? Why do we need to go to the Vampyre High Court again?"

"Because they are curious as to what happened to you and how you banished Kalona" Zoey's stomach flipped and her heart paused for a mili-second at the mention of his name.

"So Kalona's really gone?"

"As far as we know, he is, yes" he told her. Zoey laid back against the pillow on her own side of the bed and sighed.

"What is it?" Stark asked her, leaning up on his elbow

"Could this really be over? Kalona banished? Could he really be gone and everything be back to normal, just like that?" she snapped her fingers

"I don't know for sure, we all don't know, I've spoken to Darius about this and he's not sure either, so I suppose so"

"Well we will just have to wait and see until tomorrow wont we?"


	7. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

It wasn't long before Stark and Zoey fell asleep, the events of the previous day were harsh and made them weary. In other parts of the palace, sleep didn't come so easy. Darius paced in the hallway outside of his and Aphrodite's suite. Aphrodite, his love, was asleep as soon as her head had hit the pillow, but he couldn't keep his eyes shut, so he paced anxiously.

Something didn't feel right about the unnaturally still night, it was too still and calm, like the calm before the storm. After Stark and he had discussed Kalona's disappearance and possible demise, he had become sceptic, what happened to Kalona? He couldn't have just disappeared into thin air. What exactly did Zoey's spirit do to him? So many questions swam around in Darius' mind, too many questions and not enough information to come up with some answers.

Then the door to their suite open and Aphrodite sleepily appeared in the doorframe.

"What are you doing up my love?"

"I can't sleep; you're not next to me. What are you doing out here? Come to bed"

"I am on patrol, something doesn't feel right; it's too calm outside"

"The sun is going to come up soon that's why it's calm, everything is still asleep" she took hold of his big warm hand, "please come back to bed" she pleading with her puppy dog eyes that she knew he could not resist.

Darius paused to listen to the sounds around the palace and everything seemed ok, he could hear nothing but the snores of the other sleeping Vampyres and Fledglings.

"Ok I will come back to bed my beauty"

"Thank you, my handsome sexy warrior" she grinned a sleepy grin as she led Darius back to their bed. Darius gave in to her, he would go back to bed, but he would be on high alert, to any sound that would hint that Kalona wasn't really dead.

* * *

The dark ocean crashed and swirled below the sea wall, a sound that was loud enough to drown out the sound of wings flapping, large Onyx wings soared higher and higher above the angry sea, and onto the roof of the Vampyre High Court. The tanned, chiselled body of Kalona crouched taught and furious on the high roof. He was in pain, Zoey had ruined him, zapped him with all the power of the spirit of Nyx; the Goddess of whom he was once Warrior to.

Now he could feel himself fading, his soul, spirit and immortality were slipping away. Kalona cried out as his black wings disappeared and he fell to the hard ground below and became mortal.


	8. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Everyone took their seats in the Vampyre High Court, Zoey and Stark together, Aphrodite and Darius, Shaunee and Erin, and Damien and Jack sat at the back, Jack on the isle seat so that he could keep Duchess; whom lay at his feet, under control.

As the seven members of the High Court gathered in silence; you could hear a pin drop. Then the big antique double doors crashed open and in walked Neferet, minus her other half. She sat in her usual seat, she seemed depressed, Zoey thought.

"Maybe Kalona _is_ dead" Zoey whispered to Stark, but Vampyre hearing allowed the rest of her friends to hear her, she spoke too soon.

Kalona burst into the room and everyone gasped, Neferet literally flew out of her chair and flung herself at him, which looked quite pathetic from Zoey and her friend's perspectives. The first thing that everyone noticed about Kalona was that his huge black immortal wings were missing from his back.

Neferet hugged him and caressed his face, and all the while Kalona ignored her and kept staring at Zoey. He was not mad, he was surprisingly calm. As soon as Zoey's eyes met his she noticed that she was no longer drawn to him, his gaze was not seductive and mesmerizing. Kalona seemed to notice this, which frustrated him. He took Neferet's hands in his and looked down at her.

"what happened to you?" Neferet asked Kalona

"I don't know, I flew up to the roof and then I fell in pain, just like I fell as a warrior to Nyx. And the next thing I knew was that I was no longer immortal" he told her, Neferet gasped.

"Not…immortal? How is that possible?"

They were not speaking quietly so everyone had heard what they had said and they too gasped in shock.

Then the voice of the leader of the Vampyre race spoke and immediately the court hushed and took their seats again.

"Kalona, can you please explain to us all how this is possible?"

But before Kalona could answer, Zoey spoke.

"because I banished him, and when the spirit affinity hit him, our souls collided and swapped, and now I am immortal and he is just human"

"Kind of like me" Aphrodite chimed in.

"Hush! You may not speak in the High Court, human!" Neferet told her. But the leader's voice corrected her.

"No _you_ hush Neferet, you have no authority here, as you are no longer a High Priestess, Zoey Redbird is" she nodded in acknowledgment to Zoey and put a hand over her heart in salute to the Goddess Nyx, Zoey returned the gesture. And Zoey also tried not to laugh when the leader of the High Court told Neferet off, priceless.

"You may speak Aphrodite" the leader told her.

"Thank you. Well the reason I am human again is because Nyx took my mark and Earth affinity away and gave my soul, as you may call it, to Zoey"

"No I do not think that is true" the leader replied

"Well that's just my theory anyway" Aphrodite told her and sat back down in her chair. "the point is I do not like being human…" she paused when she caught Darius staring at her.

"On second thought, scratch that, I do not mind being human, because I have been accepted and loved" she smiled at Darius, who smiled back at her.

Then a thought occurred to Neferet and she looked away from Aphrodite and Darius and looked back up at Kalona and put a hand on his cheek, which made him look at her.

"I think that is true" Neferet spoke to the court while still looking at Kalona.

"I agree" added Kalona,"I guess I could get used to being human, I think good things can come out of this" he smiled at Neferet, then at Zoey, who reluctantly nodded at him. She was shocked, what had happened? it was like they were entirely new people.

A change had swept through the Vampyre High Court, and Zoey knew that feeling, she had felt it before, when she learned to love Stark. It was Nyx's love. And from that moment on, Zoey realised that love truly could conquer all.


End file.
